February 2014

Welcome signs in Alaska Native languages are going up on the Anchorage campus.

Dear Community,

I continue to be amazed by the stories at UAA. The show in our UAA Planetarium and Visualization Theater, "River of Bears," is exceptional. It is the first-ever wildlife film made for a planetarium – yes, our very own astrophysicist Travis Rector, conceived and produced this one-of-a-kind film about bears in Alaska's McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. Don't miss this! You can learn more about the film by going to the UAA's Planetarium site.

It's been a real privilege this year to watch our athletes compete. Our hockey team, on pace for its first winning season in more than 20 years, has a 10-3-1 record at the Sullivan Arena so far. I watched our gymnasts defeat Temple—very impressive. Two of our men's basketball players, Travis Thompson and Kye Fossman, surpassed 1,000 points for their respective careers and Rusty Osborne, men's basketball head coach, became UAA's winningest coach in program history. Our women's basketball team continues to lead the way as one of the top teams in the NCAA West Region with a 12-5 record.

Our skiers and indoor track & field team continue to excel. Congratulations to Micah Chelimo who set a GNAC record in the 3,000 meters.

In their 10th year of reaching out to alumni to support UAA, student callers in the Phonathon raised a cool $1 million!. A big thank you to student callers–you are making a difference at UAA!

Partnership notes

UAA Justice Center and the Anchorage Police Department released the "Officer Involved Shootings in Anchorage 1993-2013" report as part of a cooperative effort to better understand officer use of force in Anchorage.

Two UAA teams raised $12,903, ("Psyched for a Cure" team raised $9,423 and "Mixed Methods" raised $3,480) helping UAA be named a top fundraising organization for the Polar Bear Plunge supporting the American Cancer Society.

Governor's Awards note
Three recipients of the Governor's Awards for Arts and Humanities have ties to UAA: William Hensley, visiting distinguished professor in the College of Business and Public Policy; Eva Saulitis, faculty in UAA's low residence MFA Creative Writing faculty at Kenai Peninsula College's Kachemak Bay Campus, and UAA alum Aaron Leggett, curator of the recent Dena'ina exhibit and special exhibit curator at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

Olympic note

Alpine skier and psychology major Anna Berecz will represent her native Hungary in alpine skiing at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games in Russia. Anna competed in five events in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games. This is her third season with the UAA alpine team. We wish her a great Olympic games!

WWAMI support note

Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska donated $100,000 to fund training workshops for community physicians, making it easier for them to take WWAMI students into their practices and teach them.

Award-winner notes

North Hall took the prize (a S'Mores party and cool T-shirts) in a hotly contested recycling competition among residence halls.

Our University Relations team received a CASE (Council for Advancement and Support Education) silver award for Jamie Gonzales' fieldnotes.

Safety is everyone's business and I couldn't be more pleased to report that recordable injuries at UAA are going down dramatically. In 2013 we reported 13 injuries, which is less than half the 28 of the 2012.